2015 Annual Report

CHAIRMAN’S REVIEW

It is with the greatest pleasure that I share with you the results and performance of your fund for the 2015 financial year.

In a nutshell, the Fund has again delivered strong growth returns this financial year and continues the trend of growing your hard earned savings and adding to your net worth.

2015 was another year of challenges in both the local and global economy with the ongoing commodity prices downturn and a slowing domestic economy. That we have been able to once again attain good solid growth for the Fund, has been a particularly pleasing outcome for me personally.

In my mind, one of the most pleasing outcome to note is that the Fund accounts audits are up to date. This one thing gives me the greatest comfort in that we have been able to put the operations of the Fund up to the highest level of scrutiny and we should all be pleased that there were no major adverse findings. Equal to this is the continued strong annual performance which I have spoken about in the preceding paragraphs and to which the CEO and management will dive into more detail for you.

The end result you see this year, not only increases shareholder’s value, but will go down in the history books that Pacific Balanced Fund is one of the top performing fund amongst its peers locally and internationally.

PBF is well placed to take on the challenges that lay ahead. The foundations laid by MTSL as fund manage and trustee have built a solid foundation and grounded on our corporate philosophy of integrity, credibility and business ethics as a truly Melanesian company.

Looking forward into the financial year 2016, we are looking at a reorientation of the Fund and we want to explore investments in the export sector.

We would like the Fund to be invested in local companies that are pursuing export led growth strategies. This is to continue to build further diversification into the asset classes of the Fund and also strengthen the national economy by bringing in more foreign currency. To that end we have been working hard at re-positioning and restarting our bullion refinery at MRO. We envisage this to be in a position to recommence operations in 2016.

We also continue to engage robustly with existing investee companies and work at ways in which to build their businesses as well as obtain a better overall return for the Fund. This approach has seen the continuing growth in value of the Fund even under testing years.

The next couple of years will be testing as global and local economic conditions continue to prove increasingly challenging. Outlook is for challenged oil and copper prices and the ongoing threat of the climate change phenomenon which will test our management capabilities. We welcome the challenge always looking at ways and means in which we can mitigate such pressures but also use that to bring in a better result for the Fund.

In closing, I would like to thank you, the Unit Holders for your continued support and patience. May I also take this opportunity to thank my management team and staff for their diligence hard work to continue to build the good story of PBF. This experience together has made us strong and prepares us well to take on bigger challenges in the years ahead.

Let’s all move together to face the challenges and grow the Fund to extra-ordinary levels that our legacy and story will live on in the eyes of our children and the future generations of Papua New Guinea.